This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to a right-angled electrical connector module incorporating one or more right-angled electrical connector assemblies.
Generally, a typical electrical connector includes some form of dielectric or insulating housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. For instance, the housing may be molded of plastic material and the terminals may be stamped and formed of sheet metal material. The housing has a plurality of terminal-receiving passages into which the terminals are inserted so that contact portions of the terminals are exposed for engaging the contact portions of the terminals of a complementary mating connector or other connecting device.
A typical electrical connector has a front mating end or face at which the contact portions of the terminals are exposed, and a rear terminating end or face at which terminating portions of the terminals are located. The terminal-receiving passages extend generally between the mating and terminating ends of the connector housing. The rear terminating portions of the terminals are connected to a variety of conductors ranging from discrete electrical wires to circuit traces on a printed circuit board.
A header connector is a connector of the type described above wherein the connector housing is adapted for use in conjunction with a printed circuit board. The terminals of a header connector typically are pin-type terminals or terminals which have pin portions for insertion into appropriate holes in the printed circuit board which typically is mounted at the rear terminating end or face of the connector housing. The terminal pins often are bent at right-angles for insertion into the circuit board, whereby the front mating end or face of the connector housing projects generally parallel to the circuit board. The terminal pins often are xe2x80x9ccompliantxe2x80x9d pins whereby they are forced into the holes in the printed circuit board to establish an interference or press fit within the holes.
Such header connectors may be mounted in an electrical connector module, such as a control box or module for various applications. One example is an air bag module for automotive or vehicular applications. With a control module or box, one or more header connector assemblies are mounted within the control box and are terminated to a printed circuit board housed therewithin. The header connectors typically are right-angled connectors, and the terminals are right-angled terminals having terminating ends for connection to the circuit traces on the printed circuit board, and contact ends of the terminals project through the control box at a mating end or side thereof for electrical connection to complementary mating connectors. A sealant is often used to cover the box to protect the printed circuit board. This module and assembly process is costly and inefficient. Costs and inefficiency increases when the solder-tail ends of the terminals are made to be compliant pins or tails which are forced into holes in the circuit board, because there are no means for supporting the compliant pins when the circuit board is installed.
With the ever-increasing miniaturization of electrical connectors due to the ever-increasing density of the circuits in electronic applications, a myriad of additional problems have been encountered in fabricating and assembling electrical connectors as described above, such as header connectors having compliant pins for insertion into holes in a printed circuit board. To begin with, because of the miniaturization of the connector assembly, itself, the conductive terminals, such as stamped and formed sheet metal terminals, are extremely small, fragile and practically impossible to maintain at proper spacing or pitch. Consequently, pin alignment plates have been used for passing the terminal pins therethrough to maintain proper relative positioning of the terminal pins. If compliant pins are used as stated above, some form of mechanical support must be provided during assembly as the pins are forced into the holes in the printed circuit board. Still further, if the compliant pins are at right angles in an angled connector assembly, support of the terminal pins is difficult and unreliable. Typical alignment plates simply do not provide sufficient retention strength to force a large number of compliant pins into the holes of the printed circuit board. Therefore, support fixtures such as steel tooling must be used to support the alignment plate and compliant pins during assembly to the printed circuit board. This metal fixture typically looks like an elongated comb for insertion between rows of the terminal pins. Unfortunately, it is desirable in many applications to stagger the terminal pins in adjacent rows thereof. Consequently, such comb-like supporting fixtures cannot even be used because the staggered pins do not provide adequate passageways for the pin projections of the comb support.
This intertwined series of problems has made it extremely difficult to fabricate and/or assemble header connectors, such as right-angled header connectors, and particularly connectors which use compliant pins which are assembled to printed circuit boards, and still further when the header connectors are used in electrical connector modules or control boxes. The present invention is directed to a unique electrical connector assembly and a connector module incorporating such an assembly, to avoid or eliminate most if not all of these numerous problems.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved right-angled electrical connector assembly for connection to a printed circuit board.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved electrical connector module or control box incorporating the connector assembly of the invention.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, a right-angled electrical connector assembly is provided for connection to a printed circuit board. The assembly includes a terminal support member for supporting the assembly on an appropriate support structure. A plurality of right-angled conductive terminals have compliant pin portions and generally perpendicular contact portions, the pin portions having retention portions. A terminal pin alignment member is provided on the support member and includes a plurality of pin-receiving passages for receiving the pin portions of the terminals therethrough in a direction generally perpendicular to the support structure for connection to the printed circuit board. The passages have retention sections for engaging the retention portions of the terminals. A contact alignment member has a plurality of contact-receiving passages for receiving the contact portions of the terminals therethrough to define a mating portion of the assembly.
In one embodiment of the invention, the terminal pin alignment member is an integral part of the terminal support member as a one-piece component. At least one mounting post projects upwardly therefrom for mounting the printed circuit board thereon.
In another embodiment of the invention, the terminal pin alignment member is separate from the terminal support member and is supported thereon. The support member includes at least one dual-diameter mounting post. A larger diameter portion of the mounting post is insertable through a mounting hole in the terminal pin alignment member. A smaller diameter portion of the mounting post is insertable into an appropriate mounting hole in the printed circuit board.
Another feature of the invention is providing the terminal support member with receptacle means for receiving an electrical component, such as a capacitor. Conductive leads extend from the receptacle toward the printed circuit board. The leads include pin portions for insertion into appropriate holes in the printed circuit board. The leads may also include insulation displacement portions for engaging conductors from the electrical component.
The right-angled electrical connector assembly is shown herein mounted in a right-angled electrical connector module, such as a control box used as an air bag module in automotive or vehicular applications. In that context, the module generally includes a chassis having a base and a mating portion extending generally parallel to the base. The terminal support member of the connector assembly is supported on the base of the chassis. The contact portions of the terminals extend into the mating portion of the chassis.
More particularly, the chassis shown herein comprises a box-like structure having a bottom wall and side walls. The terminal support member is supported on the bottom wall. The mating portion of the chassis is at a side wall of the box-like structure. A cover also may be provided for the box-like structure.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.